Slooooo drying

[Jim Colombo]

Has anyone tried using General Finishes Arm-R-Seal (oil and urethane topcoat)?
I was told it was slow drying when I bought it but 4 days and still tacky seems too long.

[Nathan Hawkes]

Recently I had a similar experience when I used spar varnish--varnish & urethane blend--on a walnut table. It took a similar amount of time to dry. I was told by a cabinetmaker friend of mine that the first coat should have no urethane in it--i.e. a wash of sanding sealer or penetrating oil, then a topcoat. He told me that the on the outside had "sealed in" the mineral spirits underneath, and the tackiness was a product of the slow de-gassing of mineral spirits through the cured "skin" of urethane exposed to air. It made perfect sense to me. I had applied the finish like I do for bowls--flood the surface for the first coat. DOH. Live & learn. I don't know if this is the same situation for you, but just sharing my 0.02...

[John Keeton]

Jim, that has not been my experience with Arm-R-Seal. What wood are you using it on, and was it applied to raw wood? And, ambient conditions could play a role, too. I have not used it a lot, but it is usually dry to the touch in a few hours, but certainly could not be handled heavily. But, after 4 days one should be able to handle the piece easily, though it probably wouldn't fully cure for 3-4 weeks.

[Jim Colombo]

The wood is Cocobolo but it has been acetone washed and 2 coats of sanding sealer prior to the topcoat. This is the second coat of topcoat. The first was dry to the touch in 3 days so I sanded it with 800 and 1500 and put on the second coat. That was 4 days ago and it's still tacky.

[Dan Forman]

I've used it a few times on domestic woods and never had a problem with it drying overnight.

Dan

[John Keeton]

Jim, I did a quick search of SMC articles on cocobolo finishes. It seems there are a bunch of them!! Apparently, you are not the first to have this problem. Most posters used something to seal the wood before application of a finish. I did find a 2006 thread where Arm-R-Seal was used with a similar issue of non-drying.

Here (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=106320) is a recent thread, containing a post by Howard Acheson - a very knowledgeable guy when it comes to finishes.

[Jim Colombo]

I just got off the phone with General Finishes and the problem is with the coating of sanding sealer. The topcoat needs to soak into the wood and the shellac sanding sealer is preventing that from happening. They recommend wiping with mineral spirits to remove the tackiness and finish with a wax or stripping and starting over using the topcoat but without the sanding sealer.

[John Keeton]

Jim, I should preface these remarks with "I have never worked with cocobolo." But, I did contemplate buying some and doing some handles on the lathe, and in that process I looked at a bunch of threads on finishing cocobolo. Apparently, it is not finish friendly at all, and most recommend simply buffing and applying wax.

I would recommend you removing the finish, and read some of the threads. Some used epoxy to seal with, and some CA. Others used shellac and lacquer - all after acetone to remove the surface oils.

Again, I am speaking only from what I have read. You may want to post in the finish forum for some ideas.

[Bernie Weishapl]

On cocobolo I wash with acetone and then I use lacquer because it dries fast. I have had trouble with poly on this wood.

[Curt Fuller]

On cocobolo, I've only had success with lacquer or wax. Everything else I've tried has had the same sticky results you're talking about. You can get a pretty nice finish on cocobolo just waxing and buffing.